Why is the public directing their anger at the individual asylum seeker that arrives at the shore…

[AnotherNC12345]

… rather than the smuggling / trafficking gangs that are responsible for the journey?

I think it’s very extreme to put all of the blame and the anger at the individual that arrives, rather than the people responsible for orchestrating the whole process. These individuals are often ‘sold the dream’ and hooked in by organised crime groups who direct them to the UK. I’ve looked at sample routes from different parts of the world (screenshots may be pending) and these are complex and would need local people, as well as law enforcement, customs officers and other government officials to turn a blind eye involved in smuggling across multiple borders.

It’s no secret that these crossings likely cost a lot of money, and I think it would be safe to assume that refugees would often be in crippling debt to the OCGs who will put pressure on them to pay it back, by threatening them and their families and I would go as far as to say they could then be coerced in to further committing crimes when granted asylum in order to pay back their debt.

These OCGs are likely involved in other trafficking / crime, not just of asylum seekers but likely drugs, weapons and sex as they have the connections across those borders.

I think it’s very unlikely that an asylum seeker is sitting there looking at all the European government websites and shopping for a country with the best benefits package and approaching a trafficker with a brochure like they’re picking a Jet2 holiday. But this is the narrative that’s often put us and fuelled in the media.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to have a better system and want to control our borders better on a whole, but this sheer anger and blame placed at the human in front of us seems very misplaced, when they were likely manipulated in to thinking they can have a better life in this particular country and not another, and the problem is way way bigger than an individual.

For example, in Eritrea, men are often subjected to indefinite national service. Those who try to evade conscription can face torture, imprisonment, or execution. Many Eritrean men flee for this reason.
In countries experiencing civil wars, like South Sudan, young men are especially vulnerable to being forcibly recruited into government or rebel forces. If they refuse, they may face violent reprisals.

@TheLivelyViper
Not every country in Africa has indefinite national service or is experiencing civil wars, so why don’t they go to another African country?

Because they may not feel safe or welcome in France. Reasons-
There’s a lot of racism in that country. I imagine asylum seekers are intimidated by this and even afraid for their lives.
They don’t speak French, although many of the asylum seekers seekers do speak English.
They may have family or friends in UK, who can help with accommodation or work.
All of the above has been explained many times but some people chose to ignore it.

They include a psychiatrist, now working in the NHS in the Midlands.

@LakieLady could a psychiatrist from overseas not get a skilled person visa?

No, it’s anger at men from who knows where coming here and not showing any respect or abiding by the laws of this country. And before you say it, I know British men can be the same, I just don’t feel we need to accept it from men from other countries allegedly seeking asylum.

Supermarkets make record profits whilst claiming that they are having to increase prices due to stealing

The boss of aldi publicly claimed that he would increase food prices if labour increase corporation tax (iirc, it was some kind of tax)

Big money wants to dismantle the nhs further to increase profits for private medical companies. I am sure that farage wants this snd thats his goal

That's why theyre waging a race war, to get him in.

Nasty business

Duplicate post, sorry

Also just to say what happened in Nigeria with Boko Haram, happened only 2 weeks ago with now the population of internally displaced due to Boko Haram’s conflict has been over 2 million people in northeastern Nigeria.

In recent weeks (late August 2025), more than 50,000 people have been displaced in northern Mozambique. When in June to July a further 57,000 people were internally displaced. These people the majority, actually become displaced in their own countries or the nearby ones, the sheer numbers that don't come, shows how little in comparison we take.

The UK also takes much less in comparison to both France and Germany. The stats for 2025 aren't complete obviously but for 2024 it was UK 108,138 people claimed asylum. Small-boat arrivals in 2024, were 36,816 people of the 34% of the total in 2024. In France, and 157,947 people claimed asylum.
For Germany, it was 229,751 claimed asylum.

In the case of one of my former clients, she would not have been allowed to leave her country of origin officially. She had been arrested for opposition to her government's persecution of people from her ethnic minority group and spent 2 weeks being tortured in prison.

She was helped by others who had fled and crossed Europe by a modern-day "underground railroad", and came to the UK in the boot of a car on a cross-channel ferry. But some of the other refugee clients had come here on scheduled flights and then claimed asylum on arrival.

Why should they pick another African country over a European, Asian etc. one?

A foreign country is a foreign country?

There’s a lot here.

someone upthread has explained that only 0.3% (not even a whole 1%) of our budget goes on asylum seeker aid. That’s a drop in the ocean and eliminating all asylum seekers will not solve COL. Ones that are granted refugee status ultimately then start working and contributing to the economy in the long run.

Not sure what you mean by subjected to implementing sharia law? No such thing has happened here… also, not all refugees are Muslim so this seems a strange point

The anger at the government I agree with

Yes and you are angry at them for assaulting women: criminal activity.

I would be angry at men who assault women but that has nothing to do with the topic of people seeming refuge / a better life for me.

When I was a kid, that list would have included the Irish and people from the West Indies who came here to work because we had a labour shortage.

Why should they pick another African country over a European, Asian etc. one

Because if they were fleeing on safety grounds there are other places nearer. Why do they have to choose Europe?
I don’t think that many go to Asia - not East Asia, anyway. According to Google ‘China hosts about 1,160 registered refugees overall, and while the total number is rising, it remains remarkably low’.

I mean… I’d take poverty in Europe vs poverty in China any day. Their own on the bottom line are severely oppressed.

Actually, it's 4 out of a caseload of approx 20 refugees I worked with over a period of 3 years while part of a specific project.

All of that sub-set of clients worked though. Some worked in hospitality, others in social care, one as a TA in a local school. And when I needed an emergency plumber over Christmas a couple of years ago, the guy who rocked up was a Kurdish refugee who knew my Kurdish refugee friend!

Immigrants want to live here -smugglers dont

My family were immigrants as were my husbands family but I am angry that we house and feed anyone that "breaks" into our country rather than going through the legal channels. I welcome immigrants to this country but not illegal immigrants. We have no idea who these individuals are or whether they have a criminal background. You want to live here then do it the proper way.

I've no idea, but as a critic of the government in his home country, he might not have felt he had time to go through that process. He and his wife came here for him to attend a professional conference and they applied for asylum on arrival.

I can't remember now what country they were from, but it was somewhere in west Africa where French is the official (or most common) language. I first met them because a local refugee support group had helped them find accommodation in the next road from me and it's the sort of area where people say hello to each other, and one day I translated for his wife, who spoke no English and was trying to buy something in the local shop. Then it turned out that they were being supported by one of my colleagues.

They were a lovely couple, and I often wonder how they're doing now.

Is that supposed to be exciting or something?

None of what you describe is positive.

@LakieLady thank you for answering my question.

This is the challenge, why don’t they stay in the first safe country ? Why don’t they stay in France? It’s because our health and benefits system is very very appealing.

and to answer the OP, the individuals are part of the problem because if they didn’t pay the gangs then the gangs wouldn’t exist.

I find it very positive, personally.

I think it's great that people who come here without a pot to piss in, having fled war and/or persecution, get the chance to settle, work, contribute and have a decent life where they're not living in fear.

I'm especially pleased about the Kurdish plumber, there's a dire shortage of plumbers where I live and most of the existing ones aren't taking on new customers. He's really fulfilling a need in a shortage occupation! 😁

Because lots of them are racist and it feels good to have what they perceive to be a legitimate opportunity to shout abuse at a foreigner.

Because we are tribal at heart and these people are not like us.

During threads like this we have to bear in mind that the privileged aren't really affected and thereby can't see a problem and get dismissive, the not so privileged see the degradation of everything up close and personal.